This invention relates to headrest arrangements for vehicle seats which can be pivoted from a storage position to an operative position.
A headrest arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,102 provides a transversely subdivided, two-piece headrest forming two angles as viewed from the side and capable of swinging about a fixed backrest pivot between an operating position in which it extends substantially as a continuation of the backrest and a storage position in which it either rests on a storage shelf behind the backrest or rests in a depression when the two pieces are at their maximum separation. Apart from the fact that this conventional arrangement requires a special configuration of the storage shelf to provide a depression, with the result that the storage shelf cannot be configured in the normal way for its usual function, the design of the headrest itself is complicated by its two-piece construction and by the relative mobility of the two pieces. In this prior art arrangement, the two-piece construction of the headrest is provided to permit vertical adjustment of the headrest regardless of its proximity to the head of the vehicle occupant to be protected which can be adjusted by inclination of the headrest.
Another conventional headrest arrangement, described in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 31 36 648, has a backrest formed with a flat depression into which the headrest fits in its storage position. The headrest can be swung upward from the storage position into its operating position about a fixed axis, for example, in response to activation of an electric switch integrated in the seat cushion. The upward swinging motion is motorized by a pinion-and-sector drive connection. A disadvantage of this prior art arrangement, which has a one-piece headrest structure in contrast to the two-piece structure described in the reference discussed above, is that the height of the headrest cannot be adjusted and thereby adapted to the head position of a particular occupant.
German Offenlegungschrift No. 33 32 729 discloses a headrest with a non-fixed axis of swing by which the headrest is moved between a storage position in which it is located in a depression of the storage shelf and an operative position along curvilinear rails having the shape of a circular arc attached to the backrest.